AN: I survived day two! Huzzah!
AN 2: I am giving a shout out to Engineer4Ever for the massive help on this fic. Check out his stories! All brilliantly written, plotted and the characters, oh the characters! Read his stories! READ THEM!
This chapter is for you my friend!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Sun's Heir, Death's Guardian II: A Hero's Peril
IX
Will Solace was worried. He had one job and he'd screwed it up! Not only was it a job, but one of the Big Three, the scariest one in his opinion, had given him a show of faith, a blessing to enter and leave the Thirteenth Cabin at his leisure. Though with how odd Bianca's illness became, he hardly had the time to keep an eye on Nico!
"You're sure you haven't seen him, Chiron?" Will asked, almost pleadingly, as he nervously stood at the entrance of Hades' Cabin. The centaur sighed and ran a hand down his face.
"Will, relax. Whatever has happened to Nico is out of your control, and Lord Hades can't harm you while Bianca's still in need of a caretaker," Chiron said to the teenager, "Go do what you've been assigned. I will focus on this matter and search for young Nico if it puts you at ease."
Will sighed and nodded, turning away and slowly closing the cabin door, "Thanks Chiron."
The blond teen groaned and put a hand over his face, sighing heavily before he went back to Bianca's room. Ranger's head lifted as he pushed the door open and went to his designated pale patient, lifting her arm and checking her for a faint pulse. Will shook his head and murmured, "Figures..."
While he tried to get more fluids in Bianca's veins, Will worried what his eldest brother would do to him when he found out that he had lost the younger charge.
While Will Solace was worrying about both Bianca's strange illness and Nico's absence and Naruto Uzumaki was fighting a Giant; Annabeth Chase was leading her quest once again through the Labyrinth. They had just left Alcatraz, failing to convince a Hundred-Handed One to accompany them after slaying his torturer, the horrifying Kampê, and prompting Annabeth to think about their conversation with Hera.
"So why are you here again?" Percy asked as he, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson sat with the Queen of Olympus passing out a lunch at the table once covered with dust after the teens' stomach rumbled.
"Percy, Percy, Percy," Hera tisked as she gave Grover a bowl of salad, "I'm here to help you."
"But how?" Annabeth pried, "How can you be here, I thought the Gods couldn't interfere on a quest?"
"Oh? What do you call what Apollo did over the winter?" the Queen of Olympus scoffed, "If you must know, every century for one quest I care deeply about, my husband will let me grant one wish."
"But why help us?" continued the daughter of Athena, "I thought you hated heroes."
"You have one spat with one demigod and it follows you forever, I swear," Hera sighed before looking at Grover, "Stop chewing on that napkin, dear. It's not good for you."
"Yes ma'am," the satyr said, spitting the bits in his mouth out.
"But didn't you try to kill him?" Annabeth asked, "Like...A lot of times?"
"Water under the bridge," Hera dismissed, "And besides, I happen to be fond of many heroes...Jason for instance."
"The Argonaut right?" Percy asked. The Queen gave him a small smile.
"Yes," Hera confirmed before passing him another sandwich, "There's another who's earned my attention though. Your friend, Naruto."
At their stunned stares, save for Tyson who was enjoying the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the Goddess continued, "You all seem so surprised by that. He's the son of a God, yes, but a child of matrimony. A sire of a proper relationship between God and Mortal."
"Wait a second," Annabeth interjected, "Naruto's dad...Apollo...He married someone? Apollo?"
"I was as in just as much disbelief as you were when I heard that," Hera said, "Eight years ago, Apollo waking up from a prophetic trance with a loud exuberant cry. I had thought he found a new challenge. Imagine my surprise when he returned that evening with a tale of his new son, fifteen years old, saving a city from a delusional gravity manipulating mortal."
"...He did what?" Percy asked.
Grover snorted and stuck a piece of lettuce in his mouth, "Figures. Leaving the best part out of a story, that screams Naruto."
"Yes, and his name was so strange," Hera commented thoughtfully, "It was strange enough to earn many of the Gods' attention, my own included. I watched him as he learned about the new world he was brought to, how quickly he adapted to the strange machines and tools used by mortals today, but then there was one significant moment that really grabbed my attention."
"What happened?" Tyson asked curiously as he wiped his hands on a napkin. Like the others gathered around the table, he was sucked into the story, curious about the kind blond that gave him challenges in the forge.
"He found a girl on her own in California," Hera said while looking at a surprised Annabeth, "A daughter of Athena, in fact. A young girl he treated like a sister, who he cared for and protected. The compassion, the care oh...the familial bond. It warmed my heart to see a Hero like that. Even Hestia showed more interest in him than any Hero that had come before."
"Then why are you helping me instead of him?" Annabeth asked with a frown.
"You were his first anchor. You were the first demigod he had met, and in someway, shape or form, you were family, the first family he could be with here. You gave him a reason to stay and not try to return to the Hidden Lands," Hera smiled as she looked at the girl, "And with that reason, he had become what he is today: one of the greatest Heroes of this time. All because of one young girl and the bond they made."
"Why am I helping you, Annabeth Chase?" the Queen continued, "Not because I prefer you over him, or he doesn't need it, because Naruto would need all the help in the world for his quest. No, I am helping you because he would want me to."
The group sat once again in stunned silence, the sandwich in Tyson's hand falling to his plate from his lax grip due to awe. Percy sat noticeably straighter his green eyes twinkling in thought. What those thoughts were, Annabeth didn't know, but she knew that for all she wanted to refute Hera's reason to help, she couldn't. Naruto would choose her safety over his any day of the week, month, or year. It was his fault, his Fatal Flaw; He was too selfless. He'd gladly give his life if it meant the safety of others would be assured, putting the world on his shoulders and never asking anyone else to do the same.
"Oh, but he could be so much better," Hera sighed, breaking Annabeth's thoughts.
"What do you mean?" Percy asked curiously.
"Naruto Uzumaki, the Son of Apollo...Think about it," Hera said with a bit of disappointment, "Eventually he'll become far too arrogant, too cocky."
Annabeth's head snapped up and she glared at the Queen, "Naruto isn't like that!"
"Not now, no, but perhaps in time," Hera said before scoffing, "He's already inherited his father's more often than not poor choice in women. Hecate would be a better option for him. Perhaps even Tyche, Order knows she's liked the boy since he was young."
"He and Thalia deserve to be together!" Annabeth argued, her annoyance rising. It was like Hera was purposely trying her patience by pointing out things that weren't there. The daughter of Athena continued hotly, "Both of them were wrongly punished for something out of their control!"
"Zeus had broken his oath on the Styx," Hera countered with a frown, "Hades was more than welcome to enact punishment, especially after what had happened to his children's mother."
"Then why did he kill Naruto if he wasn't part of that?" questioned the blonde with tears burning at her eyes, restraining herself from screaming out what she really wanted to say; 'Why did he take my big brother away from me!?'
She was nearly crying. Crying in front of Percy, Grover, and Tyson was one thing, crying in front of Hera of all things was definitely out of the question! But it was the one question that had bothered her for so long, haunted her since she was a child. Why her brother? Why did Naruto have to leave? Annabeth clenched tightly onto her jeans to keep her composure, her jaw trembling as Hera stared at her.
"Naruto made his choice, Annabeth," The Queen said, "A choice that only one Olympian has come close to ever making: He chose your life over his."
Annabeth's hands clenched even tighter while she struggled to keep herself composed. Before she could ask anything else, Hera continued, "But enough about Apollo's child, let's get back on track. I am here to help you and to do so I will grant you one wish."
Annabeth took a few deep breaths, pushing back her frustration before putting her mind to the quest at hand. What was their current situation? They were trapped in an ever-changing Labyrinth to find its creator. However, there was also the possibility of more monsters being found in the Labyrinth, so maybe a way to defeat them.
"Before you make your wish, I have some advice to give you," Hera spoke once more, "You seek Daedalus, this Labyrinth's creator. Finding Daedalus isn't going to be as easy as stumbling across him by chance. My advice is to go to my son Hephaestus, he'll be more than happy to help you discover what had happened to the inventor."
"But how do we get there?" Annabeth asked before nodding in confirmation, "That's what I wish for, a way to navigate the Labyrinth."
Hera gained a look of disappointment as she looked at Annabeth, "I see. Unfortunately, you have wished for something you already have."
Annabeth growled, "Something we already have. What was she talking about?"
"Let it go, she was probably just trying to throw you off your game," Percy suggested before he walked into a stopped Tyson, "Ow. Tyson, what's the hold up?"
"Not alone," the cyclops mumbled with a shiver, "Someone watching us."
Grover stopped and sniffed before he shivered as well, "He's right. Someone is watching us."
"Gro-o-ver~!...T-y-son~! It is I...The, uh... The Ghoooooost King!" A disembodied voice echoed around them, "And I have come for your souls!"
As Tyson and Grover became even more unnerved, Percy snickered at the ghostly taunt while Annabeth's brow furrowed. The daughter of Athena muttered, "I know that voice."
"Feeeeeaaarr meeeee!" the voice continued before it broke into snickers.
"Alright, come out Nico," Annabeth said with a frown on her face, "You're scaring Tyson."
Out of the shadows stepped a familiar olive skinned eleven-year-old. Nico di Angelo had a smile on his face as he walked up to the group, dark eyes twinkling in the mischievous manner that Naruto often inspired. He wore a plain green shirt and jeans with a chain belt around his waist. Protecting him from the elements was a faded aviator's jacket, and slung over his shoulders was a decently sized sword about three feet in length, just shy of touching the ground from the eleven-year-old's height.
"You should've seen the look on your face," sniggered out the boy to the relieved Tyson and the annoyed Grover.
"Shouldn't you be at Camp taking care of Bianca?" Grover inquired. Nico's smile fell into a frown.
"That's why I'm here," Nico retorted, "My sister isn't getting better and I'm not going to sit around waiting for her to die while I could do something. Besides, Bianca is in good hands with Will."
"So you want to join us?" Annabeth pieced together, "To help your sister?"
"I might find a way to save Bianca," Nico said determinedly, "She's my most precious person."
"'Strength comes from protecting your precious people,'" Annabeth quoted with a small smile, getting a grin from the younger boy. She hummed before saying, "Well I guess having another child of the Big Three would be a great help."
"I don't know," Percy uneasily said as he looked to Annabeth, "Naruto would kill us if he got hurt."
"You mean he might kill you," Annabeth teased getting a mocking laugh from the son of Poseidon. Grover patted his friend on the shoulder in understanding while Tyson tilted his head in confusion.
"I can take care of myself," Nico said with a frown. To demonstrate, he turned around and raised his hand in the direction of the Labyrinth, closing his eyes and forcing the ground to rise up. Opening his eyes, Nico then made the lifted slab float over to him with a gesture. As the slab stood in front of him, Nico unsheathed his slate colored blade and slashed through the earth several times. He sheathed his sword and the raised stone crumbled.
"Geokinesis and swordsmanship," Annabeth summed up, "As well as that...invisibility?"
"Shadow-walking," Nico corrected as he gave a small smug grin to Percy, "Dad taught me."
"When did he...last winter," Percy concluded before crossing his arms as he scrutinized the younger boy, "Well at least you can swing your sword, but so can I. Can you use it though?"
"Bianca and I were trained by one of, if not, the best swordswoman in the Underworld," the son of Hades said with a challenging gleam in his eye.
"Training and surviving are two entirely different things," Percy countered.
"It's the same thing if you trained like we did," deadpanned the younger di Angelo. He then shuddered as he remembered a cackling redheaded woman swinging a sword down at him, forcing him to go on the defensive. That training was not something he wanted to go through again.
"Who trained you?" Grover asked curiously.
"Naruto's mom, Kushina Uzumaki," Nico replied nonchalantly. You could hear a pin drop after the son of Hades' spoke. Annabeth was the first to speak, pouncing after she had recovered from her shock.
"You met Naruto's mom?!" exclaimed the blonde daughter of Athena with a hint of jealousy to her voice. After he returned and Annabeth had asked him, Naruto had said he'd met her once but left it at that. Few knew more about his mother, Annabeth only knew his mother's name and what she looked like from a vague description, redheaded and beautiful. Annabeth then got rolling on the questions, "What's she like? Why was she in the Underworld? Why was she training you? How was she training you?"
"Wow, you are worse than a journalist," Nico mumbled before he rubbed his arm, "Well, yeah. She's my...stepmother's handmaiden -er, bodyguard; it was hard not to meet Kushina."
"But what is she like?" Annabeth pressed, "Is she as nice as Naruto said she was?"
"Kushina is the nicest woman I've ever met," Nico answered with a grin, "I'll tell you more about her if I can come along..."
"Sure," Annabeth agreed, "It's not like I'm going to send you back through the Labyrinth on your own. It's a miracle you even found us in the first place."
"Yeah...Miracle..." Percy repeated quietly as his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Not really," Nico dissuaded the teen's thoughts, "I can sort of...become the shadows. I see what they see. Different from Naruto's teleporting."
"How is that different from Naruto's teleporting?" Annabeth asked, "I thought he just jumped from place to place."
"Kind of...It's...It's like he can vanish into thin air and in milliseconds reappear where he wants to," Nico struggled to explain, "I don't know the technicalities, but he has a further range than Bianca or I do. Even our Dad can't move as quickly through the shadows."
"That might be due to old age, though," Percy joked, getting a small bout of laughter from the group.
Annabeth smiled at Nico and said, "All right, let's get a move on then. Bianca won't wait forever and neither will Hephaestus."
"Hephaestus, huh?" Nico mused, "Never met him. He made Kushina's sword after a request from Persephone. Dad made mine and Bianca's."
"Bianca has a sword?" Percy asked.
Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Seaweed Brain, she has to defend herself somehow, and Nico even said that Kushina had trained both of them."
"Well excuse me for not being a year rounder," grumbled the son of Poseidon, "How am I supposed to know?"
"There's nothing against the occasional visit, Percy," Grover mock chided, "How are we supposed to be sure that you're okay?"
"You're a riot."
"I've been taking lessons," Grover replied proudly, "Juniper likes funny guys."
While Percy and Grover, and the unintentionally eavesdropping Tyson, talked about Grover's girlfriend like how they met and how they hooked up, Annabeth grilled Nico for information on Naruto's mother.
"Kushina Uzumaki is the nicest woman outside of battle," Nico said as he walked next to the blonde. He shuddered in fear as he continued, "Training though...You trained with Naruto, right?"
Annabeth gave him a sympathetic glance, "That bad?"
"Worse," Nico muttered, getting Annabeth to wince. She hadn't known that there was someone more intense than Naruto when it came to training. The son of Hades continued, "We were forced to run the length of the Styx twice. She managed to stick bones to our back and sicked Cerberus on us."
"How did you survive?" asked the daughter of Athena.
"Running. A lot of running," Nico answered. He shook off the memories and said, "Other than that, Kushina was very nice. A few conversations with Apollo over the phone that Bianca and I overheard aside, I don't think she gets mad that easily."
"What were she and Apollo arguing about?" Annabeth inquired.
"I don't think they were arguing," said the boy with a shrug, "According to Bianca, she was just accusing him of 'tainting her precious baby boy', whatever that meant."
"Really?" Annabeth probed as a small smirk crossed her face, "What else?"
"She kept warning me to stay away from alcohol and drugs for some reason other than the usual 'Drugs are Bad, Stay in School' thing," Nico said, before grinning, "There's a really good story she told me about Naruto though. Did you know he once led a revolt?"
"No way!" exclaimed the girl with a frown, "Why wouldn't he tell me that?"
"It is kind of graphic for a kid who already has to deal with monsters chasing them," Nico pointed out, getting a look of surprise from Annabeth, "What? Kushina told me about how you two met."
"I guess Naruto must've told her," Annabeth mumbled.
"But anyway, Naruto and his team were called out to escort a bridge builder to a small village called Nami," Nico began, enthralling the daughter of Athena with the story. Percy, Tyson and Grover were sucked in as well, silently listening in as the son of Hades spoke. Annabeth interjected a lot, asking questions about details Nico wasn't a hundred percent sure of, such as how two fully grown men hid in a puddle, or how a rabbit that was out of its natural habitat retain a snow-white fur, or even how a blade nearly six feet in length that was stopped by a blade five inches long.
The group shared a laugh when Nico retold how Naruto freaked out upon discovering he had been stabbed with a poisonous blade, and then making it worse by impaling his hand with his kunai. As he talked about their tree climbing exercise, the subject of Sasuke came up, making Grover and Percy share a glance before the son of Poseidon interrupted, "Who is Sass-kay?"
"Sasuke," Nico corrected, "Was Naruto's best friend, before he went crazy and tried to kill him."
Annabeth, Percy and Grover stiffened before looking at one another. Nico continued to walk and talk, Tyson following him while engrossed in the story, leaving the three behind. Grover leaned forward and asked, "You don't think that...?"
"He did say Lucky Boy was almost impaled through the heart by the psychopathic friend," Percy said as he recalled the mockery of a story Naruto had told last winter.
"But even with Apollo's blessing, which he didn't even know about until he was fifteen," Annabeth pointed out, "Naruto couldn't have survived a punctured lung. Not without some serious medical treatment."
"Kyu could've helped," Grover suggested, "He was a spirit of nature after all, and some spirits are known to be well trained in the arts of healing."
"But Kyu was a curse before he became a weapon," Percy argued, "Naruto was one of those...Jin...Jin-chiki things."
"Jinchuriki," Grover corrected.
"What did you say?" Annabeth asked as her eyes widened. Grover and Percy looked at each other before back at her as she continued, "Jinchuriki? As in, 'Power of Human Sacrifice'?"
"You learned Japanese didn't you?" Grover asked.
"It's my third language," nodded a proud Annabeth.
"...I can barely handle English and you learned Japanese?" Percy asked incredulously. Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"Japanese to Greek translation books, Seaweed Brain," replied the blonde as though it were obvious, "You'd be surprised how easy learning things can be once you translate it to Greek."
"...Shut up, Wise Girl," Percy mumbled as he looked away, recalling Naruto saying something similar as he forced Percy to study history.
"Anyway, it's an old word long forgotten, how do you two know it?" Annabeth asked. Grover and Percy shared another nervous glance, this one noticed by Annabeth and making her gape at them, "No. No, he didn't! He told you about his past on the Quest for Artemis, didn't he?!"
"Yes/No! I mean No/Yes!" the two friends replied before glaring at each other, "Would it kill you for once in your life to work with me?"
"...You two have been together for far too long," Annabeth commented before starting to rant, "I can't believe he told you two! I thought he hated you Percy!"
"Same here," answered the boy honestly, "I think if it weren't for Thalia, we'd have never gotten the truth out of him."
"But he told you! You! Why hasn't he said anything to me yet?!" Annabeth demanded, feeling slightly hurt.
"Maybe there's a reason he hasn't told you yet," Grover quickly defended the blond, "Maybe he thinks by keeping you in the dark he's keeping you safe."
"It sounds like him," Percy admitted, thinking back to what Apollo said to him on the train, "I mean, he picked on me to get me to wake up and take things seriously."
"Which you still haven't done," Grover added.
"Who's the demigod again?" Percy playfully threatened.
"Last I checked you were, and yet I still managed to make you walk into a tree," retorted the satyr with a smug grin.
"Touché," Percy stated before putting a hand on the lightly smiling Annabeth's shoulder and said, "Listen, Naruto has the most messed up logic on the planet. You of all people should know that by now. Whatever his reason for not telling you, it's most likely for your benefit."
"You really think so?" Annabeth asked.
"Yep," Percy lied slightly. He wasn't really sure about that, though, because there was still a (very slim) possibility that Naruto just forgot to bring his 'Little Sis' up to speed. For now, he'll just try to keep Annabeth's mind on the quest and keep her from feeling too low or doubting herself.
"...Thanks Percy," the daughter of Athena said with that same smile that made Percy's heart skip a beat. The dark haired teen just smiled back, content with making his crush feel better.
"Hey, are you guys coming or what?!" Nico called from a rather impressive distance ahead. The three older quest takers quickly rejoined the two younger ones, Nico giving them odd looks upon their arrival, "What were you guys talking about?"
"Nothing important," Annabeth replied, "What did we miss?"
"Team made it to wave Naruto met Haku," Tyson summed up with a smile, "Go on, Nico. Tell more."
"Yeah, yeah," Nico waved off the excited cyclops' urging, "Apparently Naruto was out all the next night training, oversleeping and missing his team leave for the bridge. He was gone just long enough to hear his host Tsunami, the bridge builder's daughter, release a threatening yell to bite her own tongue off after he stumbled across a cut up boar."
"Is that possible?" Percy asked. Annabeth shuddered before nodding, prompting the others to groan in disgust at the mental image.
"Not only possible, but life threatening," Nico answered nonchalantly, "But anyway, Naruto uses his duplication thing–"
"Kage Bunshin," Annabeth said, remembering the technique that had more often than not saved their hides.
"Yeah, that," Nico said, "He used the Kage Bunshin and took out two mercenaries that were hired to capture the bridge builder's family. He gave an inspiring speech to the builder's grandson, which led to the kid running around the village begging others to rise up against Gato."
Nico then grinned, "The best part is what came afterwards. Apparently, after Naruto's team left, the village named the bridge after him. They called it the Naruto Ouhashi, in honor of their hero."
"The Great Naruto Bridge," Annabeth translated loosely in awe and a bit of jealousy.
"No way," Grover said in disbelief, "How come Naruto didn't tell us about this?"
"I don't think he knew," Nico said, "Kushina told me she had discovered it by accident while exploring the Underworld. She met a man she never expected in a million years to be down there."
"What was the man's name?" Percy asked out of curiosity.
Nico shrugged before he gave his answer, "I dunno. All she kept calling him was Ero-Sennin or Perverted Toad."
The five continued to walk until they came across another exit. As they left the Labyrinth for the second time on their quest, the world around them had changed, not that they knew it. Days had passed during Nico's tale rather than minutes. And in the past few days, many things had happened for the other quest takers, including the reveal of a secret regrettably kept from someone who deserved to know it.
AN: So the Great and Gallant Jiraiya is in the Underworld, is he? How did he get there? Will he play a larger part in the story? What happened over the past few days with Naruto and Thalia? Will I ever stop with these nonsensical questions?
To find out there is but one thing left to do,
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